


Head & Heart

by ami_ven



Series: Home on the Range (Wild West AU) [3]
Category: Stargate Atlantis
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Western, Community: writerverse, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-27
Updated: 2015-01-27
Packaged: 2018-03-09 06:39:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 623
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3239999
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ami_ven/pseuds/ami_ven
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Rodney brings an injured John back home.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Head & Heart

**Author's Note:**

> written for LJ community "writerverse" prompts "horseback riding" & “Being in love with your ass ain’t cheap” (“F*ck You/Forget You” by Cee-lo Green)

The first time I’d had John Sheppard slung across my saddle, I hadn’t been half this scared. Of course, I hadn’t known him then, and I’d only been hoping that I wouldn’t end up with a dead body I’d have to deal with.

This time, I was infinitely more terrified, holding the reigns with only one hand so I could keep the other on John’s wrist, needing to feel his pulse. I wasn’t even watching where we were going, trusting that Puddle Jumper— John had renamed him, insisting that ‘Horse’ was no name for a horse— really would return to his barn, like I’d always heard.

John still hadn’t woken, even when I’d half-dropped him getting him into the saddle, and I was starting to panic. I had long decried so-called modern-day medicine as voodoo and quackery, but at that moment I’d have given anything for a visit from my old neighbor, Dr. Beckett. 

Jumper slowed to a walk, and I looked up to see that he’d not only brought us home, but right to the front door. I patted his neck as I slid from the saddle, and he trotted off to the barn— John would yell at me later for not unsaddling him, but if John was well enough to yell, I’d be happy for it. I set him on the bed as gently as I could, then carefully peeled off his jacket and shirt. 

It was something I had done before, removing John’s clothes, but it was hardly the same without him smirking and teasing me. And it didn’t provide me any new information— John had no visible wounds, not even hidden beneath his clothes. In desperation, I simply ran my hands over his skin, until I slid my fingers into his hair and felt the lump.

John gave a low moan and tried to move away from my hands, but I held him still. “John?”

He moaned again, but his eyes opened. “Rodney?”

“What the hell is wrong with you?” I demanded. “I went to bring you lunch, and I found you on the ground. I thought you were dead! I thought you’d… you’d shot yourself, or been attacked by something, or…”

John sat up, using my shoulder for leverage. “I think I hit my head,” he said, ruefully. “I was setting traps, and I must have set one wrong, because it snapped, and I jerked back and— boom.”

“Traps?” I repeated. “ _Bear_ traps?”

“No, for foxes,” said John. “Maybe minks? The last time I was in town, I heard some trappers saying that those were the most valuable furs, and there are definitely foxes in the woods near here. I thought… we’re making do, we’ve got enough to see us through the winter, but you’re running out of the materials for your experiments. If my traps work, I could cure the meat— fox tastes just fine, McKay, don’t make that face— and make a little extra money for copper wire and glass lenses.”

“But that’s…” I still didn’t understand what John was doing here, with me, but even I couldn’t mistake the warmth in his voice when he talked about the future, _our_ future. “I…”

He snorted a laugh, then winced. “Ow.”

“Careful!” I warned, reaching out to hold his head again. “You’ve probably addled your brain, even with all that hair.”

John laughed again, and leaned forward to rest his forehead against my shoulder. “It hurts, but I’ll be all right. Although… I’ve heard it said that folk with head injuries ought to be kept awake. And I notice that you’re wearing far more bits of clothing than you should be, for what I’m thinking.”

I smiled, and kissed him, gently. “I can fix that.”

THE END


End file.
